Post by Kitty on Sept 20, 2020 6:15:06 GMT
So a couple of weeks ago I signed up for the Pro version of iTrackbites and decided to give it a good try. My free etools had run out on WW and I didn't want to pay for them when I don't really like any of their current plans. The green is the best for me but I still end up going way over on points even when within my calorie goal (I also track at MFP).
So I decided to try Carb Conscious the iTrackBites plan that is like Points Plus. I just finished my first week. I was down almost 3 pounds after 6 days. (I will go up in the morning since this was our main eating takeout day and I save almost half of my weekly points for today). I ended up 5 points over my weekly points which I thought was fine. I would rather have been within it but there was a lot of adjusting and not knowing exactly how many points some things were. I also tracked on MFP and I averaged 1386 calories a day which is a little higher than I want but is much better than I have been doing.
But, holy cow, I had forgotten how well a Points Plus type program works for me. I originally got to goal 30 years ago on an exchange system. I tried various of the original points systems. I did fairly well on Momentum for a few months and then PP came out. Once PP set the minimum to 26 instead of 30 PP I did really well on it. I lost over 50 pounds total and got back to goal.
Then SP came out. Initially I liked it because I felt it was nutritionally superior in focusing on sat fat and sugar (I still feel that way) but it was ultimately a failure because the disconnect between SP and calories was too great. I was able to maintain on it. I had originally planned to lose below goal but I couldn't really do that on SP. I could just barely tread water. Once Freestyle came out I couldn't even go that.
But during all of this I never went back to PP. I did count calories through all of it, mostly successfully. But I gained about 15 pounds 2 years ago when we moved and I haven't been able to get rid of it. I got about 10 of it off and then we remodeled and then Covid so I'm back where I was 2 years ago.
Counting calories is fine, but I always have difficulty taking my calorie goal seriously. It is not a big deal to me to end the week 100 calories a day over my goal. I see that calorie goal as pretty much optional. When things are going well I meet it. When they aren't...I still record calories but don't really pay attention to meeting my goal.
The nice thing about recording in iTrackBites is that I do care about not going over my points. I did go over a little this week but I did care. The thing is that back when I followed PP I found that if I was within my points I would be within my calorie goal (that wasn't always true on SP or on Green or Blue). And, most days I had no problem staying within points at all. I paid attention to it but I never ended the day hungry. Most days I used a few weekly points but I had 18 left this morning (and ate 23).
The reasons I never went back and used old WW programs are what I really don't like on iTrackBites. The restaurant food lists are way out of date. They often have foods that are no longer sold and don't have newer foods. You can plug in nutritional information which is fine but it doesn't account for 0 point veggies or fruit. I have manually tried to do that but it is a chore.
A lot of foods in their food lists (not restaurant foods - other stuff) doesn't match current nutritional information. I don't find a way to edit them so I have to create a new food with the correct info.
Searching and finding foods is often difficult. If I haven't saved something as a favorite the general food list search always starts with restaurant foods (which I am rarely recording) and then looks for other foods. The order of foods in the general foods search list seems to bear no relation to anything. It isn't the foods I search for the most. It isn't alphabetical. It appears totally random.
Of course, I can save stuff as a favorite. But it often hard to find the food in favorites as their is no consistency. Some Sargento cheese cubes are literally just labeled as cheese in the favorite foods. NO mention of the flavor or manufacturer. Food are alphabetized by the food not by who who makes it. So I eat 3 different Kay's Natural Protein Snacks. They are not together and the names given them are strange. For example, the Cinnamon Toast Pretzel sticks are listed as "Gluten-Free Protein Pretzel Sticks, Cinnamon Toast." I am never guessing that in a million years.
So this is just a negative from using an older program. I am willing to put up with it because I am enjoying the food program itself (so, so, so much better).
So I decided to try Carb Conscious the iTrackBites plan that is like Points Plus. I just finished my first week. I was down almost 3 pounds after 6 days. (I will go up in the morning since this was our main eating takeout day and I save almost half of my weekly points for today). I ended up 5 points over my weekly points which I thought was fine. I would rather have been within it but there was a lot of adjusting and not knowing exactly how many points some things were. I also tracked on MFP and I averaged 1386 calories a day which is a little higher than I want but is much better than I have been doing.
But, holy cow, I had forgotten how well a Points Plus type program works for me. I originally got to goal 30 years ago on an exchange system. I tried various of the original points systems. I did fairly well on Momentum for a few months and then PP came out. Once PP set the minimum to 26 instead of 30 PP I did really well on it. I lost over 50 pounds total and got back to goal.
Then SP came out. Initially I liked it because I felt it was nutritionally superior in focusing on sat fat and sugar (I still feel that way) but it was ultimately a failure because the disconnect between SP and calories was too great. I was able to maintain on it. I had originally planned to lose below goal but I couldn't really do that on SP. I could just barely tread water. Once Freestyle came out I couldn't even go that.
But during all of this I never went back to PP. I did count calories through all of it, mostly successfully. But I gained about 15 pounds 2 years ago when we moved and I haven't been able to get rid of it. I got about 10 of it off and then we remodeled and then Covid so I'm back where I was 2 years ago.
Counting calories is fine, but I always have difficulty taking my calorie goal seriously. It is not a big deal to me to end the week 100 calories a day over my goal. I see that calorie goal as pretty much optional. When things are going well I meet it. When they aren't...I still record calories but don't really pay attention to meeting my goal.
The nice thing about recording in iTrackBites is that I do care about not going over my points. I did go over a little this week but I did care. The thing is that back when I followed PP I found that if I was within my points I would be within my calorie goal (that wasn't always true on SP or on Green or Blue). And, most days I had no problem staying within points at all. I paid attention to it but I never ended the day hungry. Most days I used a few weekly points but I had 18 left this morning (and ate 23).
The reasons I never went back and used old WW programs are what I really don't like on iTrackBites. The restaurant food lists are way out of date. They often have foods that are no longer sold and don't have newer foods. You can plug in nutritional information which is fine but it doesn't account for 0 point veggies or fruit. I have manually tried to do that but it is a chore.
A lot of foods in their food lists (not restaurant foods - other stuff) doesn't match current nutritional information. I don't find a way to edit them so I have to create a new food with the correct info.
Searching and finding foods is often difficult. If I haven't saved something as a favorite the general food list search always starts with restaurant foods (which I am rarely recording) and then looks for other foods. The order of foods in the general foods search list seems to bear no relation to anything. It isn't the foods I search for the most. It isn't alphabetical. It appears totally random.
Of course, I can save stuff as a favorite. But it often hard to find the food in favorites as their is no consistency. Some Sargento cheese cubes are literally just labeled as cheese in the favorite foods. NO mention of the flavor or manufacturer. Food are alphabetized by the food not by who who makes it. So I eat 3 different Kay's Natural Protein Snacks. They are not together and the names given them are strange. For example, the Cinnamon Toast Pretzel sticks are listed as "Gluten-Free Protein Pretzel Sticks, Cinnamon Toast." I am never guessing that in a million years.
So this is just a negative from using an older program. I am willing to put up with it because I am enjoying the food program itself (so, so, so much better).
